Nation: THE HAYNSWORTH HASSLE

It was a mistake in the first place to submit the nomination, and it's a
mistake not to withdraw it. It will not enhance the prestige of the
Supreme Court. It will not help the Republican Party. We shouldn't be
on the defensive on the Supreme Court.

THOSE anguished words from a Republican Party leader were directed
toward Richard Nixon, as the President met privately with dyspeptic
party chiefs last week. The subject, of course, was Nixon's candidate
for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, South Carolina Judge
Clement Haynsworth Jr., who was suddenly the center of an old-fashioned
political donnybrook threatening...